Kelly Bare - The DIY Wedding: Celebrate Your Day Your Way

The DIY Wedding

Celebrate Your Day Your Way

by Kelly Bare

Foreword by Natalie Zee Drieu

Text copyright 2007 by Kelly Bare.
Foreword copyright 2007 by Natalie Zee Drieu.
Illustrations copyright 2007 by Gina Triplett.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Bare, Kelly.
The DIY wedding : celebrate your day your way / By Kelly Bare.
p. cm.
eISBN-13: 978-0-8118-7171-6
1. Handicraft. 2. Wedding decorations. 3. Wedding costume. I. Title.
TT149.B363 2008
745.5941dc22
2006035206

Chronicle Books LLC
680 Second Street
San Francisco, California 94107

www.chroniclebooks.com

Note: Every effort has been made to present the information in this book in a clear, complete, and accurate manner. However, not every situation can be anticipated, and there can be no substitute for common sense. As with any craft project, check product labels to make sure the materials you use are safe and nontoxic. Heed all laws, federal, state, or otherwise, when planning your nuptials and picking an officiant. While we celebrate your thrift and creativity in DIYing, the author and Chronicle Books disclaim any and all liability resulting from injuries, damage, or emotional scarring caused by following the advice in this book.

Bluette is a registered trademark of the EJK Corp. Butterick and McCalls are registered trademarks of the McCall Pattern Co. Cheez-Its is a registered trademark of Kellogg North America Co. Design Ideas is a registered trademark of Design Ideas, Ltd. Hersheys Kisses is a registered trademark of the Hershey Chocolate & Confectionery Corp. Hidden Valley Ranch dressing is a registered trademark of the HV Food Products Co. Home Depot is a registered trademark of Homer TLC, Inc. iTunes is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. Kinkos is a registered trademark of Kinkos Ventures, Inc. The Knot is a registered trademark of The Knot, Inc. MAC is a registered trademark of Este Lauder Cosmetics Ltd. Matchbox is a registered trademark of Mattel, Inc. M&Ms is a registered trademark of Mars, Inc. Polaroid and Polaroid i-Zone are registered trademarks of the Polaroid Corp. Preparation H is a registered trademark of Wyeth Corp. Quark is a registered trademark of Quark, Inc. Ritz and Triscuits are registered trademarks of Kraft Foods Holdings, Inc. Sally Hansen is a registered trademark of Del Laboratories, Inc. Scrabble is a registered trademark of Hasbro, Inc. Sephora is a registered trademark of Sephora. Slinky is a registered trademark of Poof-Slinky, Inc. Styrofoam is a registered trademark of the Dow Chemical Co. Wheat Thins is a registered trademark of Nabisco, Inc. X-ACTO is a registered trademark of Elmers Products, Inc.

This book is dedicated to my husband,
Jonathan Cohen, and to Nancy Bare and
Lynn Cohen, two indispensable Ys
in our own DIY wedding.

Chapter Three INVITATIONS
(and Other Ways to Spread the Word)

A few days after Christmas in 2005, my then-boyfriend, Gilles, and I were in Paris, ready to spend a few quality days together before I met his family for the first time. On our second night, Gilles had planned a romantic dinnerboat ride along the Seine. It was there, after dinner, that he popped the big question. Suddenly, we were engaged!

My vision for our wedding was one that celebrated our international backgrounds; Gilles is French and I am Chinese American. We settled on a theme of 1930s Paris and Shanghai because we love the style of that era and it fit our cultures so well. Easy, right? Not so. For the first couple months of our engagement, family and friends suggested I meet with wedding people. Here I became exposed to the commercial pitfalls of wedding planners, florists, caterers, and more. To these professionals, it didnt matter that I had more than ten years experience in the design world as a creative director. And never mind the fact that Im a pretty savvy crafter whose job at the time was to help launch the magazine CRAFT. Duh! I can help! But to them, they were the professionals and I was just a big dollar sign.

Oh sweetie, you are never going to find a location in your budget for an October wedding in the city. Get married next year. Trust me, Ive been doing this for 25 years. Translation? Pay me $6,000 and I will find you something! Another one said, Rose balls! I see rose balls hanging down from the fireplace! Translation? I did this same thing for the last 20 weddings and it will be easiest for me to do.

Eventually, I took control like I wanted to from the beginning. We had a team of amazing friends and family who lent their creative genius to make our event even more special. Using flowers we bought wholesale, my mother and her friends created striking Japanese ikebana floral arrangements for the ceremony and reception. Custom jewels designed by my friend Kris Nations matched my silk sheath Monique Luhillier wedding dress (which was only $1,500 at Glamour Closet in San Francisco). My girlfriends mom, Harriette Shakes, and I worked closely to come up with a design for our save-the-dates, invitations, signage, and place cards. I learned about paper and the importance of weight (the heavier it is, the more postage you need!). In the end, the design process was the one I enjoyed most. I learned more than I ever could have if I went with cookie-cutter cards from a stationery store.

Under the pressure of launching CRAFT, I hired a wedding coordinator, Michelle Martinez (www.allureconsulting.com), for partial planning and coordinating week of wedding events. (Partial planning fees should be less than $3,500.) Michelles day-of schedule and lists were a lifesaver: She kept tabs on our families, the wedding party, all the vendor deliveries, and us (because, trust me, I was in no state to keep tabs on myself). Most important, she kept things on schedule. Gilles and I ended up having the wedding of our dreams because we chose the details that meant the most to us, not the default dcor that everyone else had.

And thats what you can have with The DIY Wedding as your guide. It blasts a breath of fresh air into the commercial, cheesy world of wedding planning. I would have saved months of headache and money if I had this book when I was engaged! Kellys insight and advice are so clear. She carefully places all the right steps in order to help you tackle every aspect of your wedding without getting overwhelmed. She also gives you the assurance you need with encouraging reminders, such as my favorite, DIY doesnt mean you need to do it all yourselfone of the key nuggets of wisdom I could have used early on.

Thank you, Kelly, for helping us DIYers reclaim the modern wedding!

Natalie Zee Drieu
Associate Editor, CRAFT
Web Editor, Craftzine.com

Youre engaged? Congratulations! Its thrilling to find someone to share your life with, and equally thrilling (if not a bit scary) to step into the realm of the fiance, with its many formerly forbidden delights: you get to wear a ring on the fourth finger of your left hand, you get to replace your hand-me-down furniture and mismatched dishes with real things, and, yes, you get to plan a weddingyour long-awaited, once-in-a-lifetime (knock on wood), lets-make-it-magic wedding. Now, since youre reading this book, may I presume that youre considering Doing It Yourself?